Thursday, June 25, 2009

My Take on Michael Jackson

With reports now being confirmed that Michael Jackson has died and an outpouring of support for Jacko all over the media, I wanted to take this time to first voice my outrage and second hear from you guys on what you think Jacko's legacy will be.

First, my take. Sure, Micheal Jackson had a litany of mega hits. I won't list them, but we all know he was an incredibly talented and successful musician. He revolutionized dancing. His was a trailblazer is music videos. Thriller is still a cool video.

Then there were the wild accusations about Jacko's personal life. Spending the night in the same bed with children. Macaulay Culkin. Lisa Marie. The second marriage. The surrogate mother. The series of plastic surgeries. The visible change of skin color. The visible change of his nose.

And, of course, the elephant in the room, the child molestation accusations. Sure, Jacko was acquitted in 2005. Let's not forget OJ was acquitted as well. "Not guilty" does not mean the same thing as "innocent". I'm not saying he did anything, but, sometimes, where there's smoke, there's fire.

What do you think of Michael Jackson? What is the one indelible image of Jacko?

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I heard one "news personality" state that the past allegations have all been forgotten, and everyone will mourn his death. I have not forgotten about the past allegations, and although he made great contributions to the music industry, I can't help but wonder what children have been spared exposure to his illegal tendencies because of his sudden demise.

MJ was obviously the greated entertainer we will ever see. Although MJ was accused of inappropriate and illegal behavior with children, I do not think he ever displayed any illegal behavior with children. I think MJ was weird but that was it. I think he never had a childhood and therefore, never grew up. I think he was very child-like, but never did the things he was accused of. Big difference in my mind between OJ and MJ. OJ had a documented past regarding abuse towards women. With MJ, it was all assumption and "he say, she say." I personally believe folks saw an opportunity to take advantage of MJ's relationship with kids and expolit it for money. But that is just my take.

While on a JetBlue flight over the weekend, I stumbled across VH1's Michael Jackson music video marathon. I was stunned, truly stunned, by the incredible amount of legendary songs the man was able to produce. From "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" to "We Are The World," his music was not only tremendously entertaining, it was extraordinarily influential.

Until Sunday, I did not know that Scorsese directed the music video for "Bad," which starred Wesley Snipes alongside MJ. I did not know that Chris Tucker was in the music video for "You Rock My World." I did not know that his album "Bad" is the only album ever to have five (5!) #1 singles.

I did not know this because the allegations of his alleged misconduct sickened me. It remains unproven whether any nefarious activity actually took place, but his reputation and his legacy were tarnished nevertheless.

As Trey mentioned, his music alone puts him in the conversation for the greatest artist of all time. Whether his alleged misconduct stemmed from a lost childhood, abuse at the hands of his father at an early age, or if he was just "weird," it's a shame.

He will be remembered; alas, in many cases, it will be for all the wrong reasons.